Hell week, that is what I called my training last week. I set a goal of running 100km last week as I wanted to lose a little bit of weight (so I’m carrying less over the 42km) and I wanted to absolutely kill my legs in my last week of hard training. However, due to two big road blocks I only managed to achieve 80km.  Thursday I was forced to take a day off and lie in bed all day with what I think was the flu and then Friday I somehow managed to sublux my rib (the medical term for what I did is costochondritis where one of my ribs is being pulled away from the cartilage).  I did not notice the pain until I was on my way home from work but did not think too much of it and I figured by morning I would be fine and I would be able to run 20km on Saturday and Sunday as planned.  After another early Friday night and a lot of sleep I woke up in more pain then I was in the day before and realized this was more serious than I had thought. I opted for 2 hours of spinning instead of a run and after that I went to my amazing chiropractor, Dr. Tod Pelly, who came in on his day off to fix me.  After his treatment I spent all afternoon lying on my couch icing my ribs and sleeping.  Feeling a million times better on Sunday I ventured out for my last really long run before the marathon (yeah!!).  Here is a breakdown of what my “hell week” looked like.

Monday – 15km tempo run and a 1 hour spin
Tuesday – 8 x 1 mile repeats at my marathon race pace (which is 8.0mph on the treadmill or a 7 min and 30 second min/mile) with a 1 mile warm up and cool down and a 1 hour spin
Wednesday – 15km run just under race pace with a 3 mile surge in the middle
Thursday - off
Friday – 12km hilly and hard run
Saturday – 2 hour spin with 8 x 400m treadmill intervals at race pace
Sunday - 22km hard long run

I am now on my taper, the time where I start to reduce my training and start to get my body ready for the big day.  My taper is two weeks, this week is still intense but less than what I have done and next week it becomes really easy.  I had my coaches put together my program for me and it looks like this:

This week
Monday – 45 minute spin
Tuesday – 1 hour and 20 minutes of intervals at the track and 1 hour easy spin
Wednesday – 1 hour easy trail run
Thursday – 1 hour and 15 minutes with 5 x 5 minute intervals, starting with race pace and each interval getting faster
Friday – rest (thank goodness)
Saturday – 17 km run with 30 minutes at my race pace
Sunday – 1 hour recovery run

Next week
Monday - rest
Tuesday – 4 x 400m intervals
Wednesday – easy 30 minute run
Thursday – 4 x 2 minute intervals
Friday – 20 minute with 5 minutes at race pace
Saturday – rest
Sunday – 15 minute easy jog

Monday RACE DAY!!

This is the time when I start to go crazy.  It is like when you are waiting outside a university exam room, ready to write the biggest test you ever have, and you start to panic that you have not studied enough and you begin to second guess yourself. Have I done enough training? Am I hydrated? Is my body going to hold itself together?  Will I lose everything that I gained over these last 3 months?   Did I set my expectations too high?  All that I can do now is keep telling myself that I have done the work and I have done my best. I can honestly say, however, that you really NEVER do enough – we could have always done more.  But life gets in the way, injuries play a role and sometimes you just do not feel like going for a run.  So, have I done enough? Probably not, but I have done my best.

There will not be much to report over the next two weeks.  My rib should work itself out, my legs will start to recover and I will be ready to rock come race day.  Nerves are starting to settle in and with that anticipation; I am excited and I am ready to go. So, thank you all for following along on this journey with me.  As you can tell from my last posts I have learned a lot and have shared that with you and I hope my stories have inspired you to find something that is to you what the Boston marathon is to me.  Remember, you do not have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.

If you want to follow me on the 16th my race number is 10536.  The race starts at 10am eastern time, but my wave starts at 10:20.  If I have the perfect race I will be done at 1:38pm.  Click here and follow the links to get live updates.  I am leaving you with two very inspiring videos that I watch before every race – I am a sucker for videos like this. See you at the finish line!

Attached - James Marsden at the South Beach Triathlon this weekend.